Modifying tetramethyl–nitrophenyl–imidazoline with amino acids: design, synthesis, and 3D-QSAR for improving inflammatory pain therapy

Abstract

Xueyun Jiang,1 Yuji Wang,1 Haimei Zhu,1 Yaonan Wang,1 Ming Zhao,1,2 Shurui Zhao,1 Jianhui Wu,1 Shan Li,1 Shiqi Peng11Beijing Area Major Laboratory of Peptide and Small Molecular Drugs, Engineering Research Center of Endogenous Prophylactic of Ministry of Education of China, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Faculty of Biomedical Science and Environmental Biology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, TaiwanAbstract: With the help of pharmacophore analysis and docking investigation, 15 novel 1-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-2-(3-nitrophenyl)-4,5-dihydroimidazol-1-yl)-oxyacetyl-L-amino acids (6a–o) were designed, synthesized, and assayed. On tail-flick and xylene-induced ear edema models, 10 µmol/kg 6a–o exhibited excellent oral anti-inflammation and analgesic activity. The dose-dependent assay of their representative 6f indicates that the effective dose should be 3.3 µmol/kg. The correlation of the three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship with the docking analysis provides a basis for the rational design of drugs to treat inflammatory pain.Keywords: tetramethylimidazoline, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, 3D-QSAR